I bought a brand new HP laptop running Windows 11 23H2. My laptop is a brand new Lenovo i7 with 16GB RAM and 512GB SSD.
I have an eight year old HP 6960 printer. To start the process, I downloaded the drivers for Windows 11 from the official HP website.
Trying to install the software gave an error that the Wi-Fi can’t detect SSID despite laptop and printer being on same Wi-Fi network.
I saw that the pesky Wi-Fi direct was on. This can cause problems as the Wi-Fi direct channel is the same as the Wi-Fi router’s channel!
Disbled Wi-Fi direct but the Wi-Fi still wouldn’t install.
The USB connecton method stalls half way through the installation However, I saw that that USB printer drivers did install, so I can print at least, just cannot scan as the scanning application isn’t installed.
HP website shows drivers for Windows 11 but not if for 32 or 64 bit. I downloaded the correct software but it doesn’t work with Windows 11.
The printer is 8 years old so time for a new one.
I made sure that the Wi-Fi network in the laptop is set to Private as well since that causes problems.
I downloaded the correct drivers and the printer is joined to the same Wi-Fi network as the laptop but the driver installation does not complete. They fail half way through.
It is a failure of the HP drivers.
All of the drivers are up the date on the laptop. The problem is with the HP drivers for W11 and this particular printer.
I tried installing the HP smart app on my laptop and this is what happens.
It detects the printer but when I click on it I get the error saying it’s not turned on. There is something in the Wi-Fi part of the drivers that doesn’t work in Windows 11 23H2.
Unfortunately, the software drivers are not compatible with the latest versions of Windows 11. As the printer is already 8 years old, I don’t think that HP will release an updated software package.
